A New York antitrust lawyer and her husband were arrested Monday on charges they conspired to defraud two law firms and a client out of $5 million.
Keila Ravelo, who had most recently been a partner at Wall Street law firm Willkie Farr & Gallagher, and her husband Melvin Feliz were charged with conspiracy to commit wire fraud in a complaint filed in Newark, New Jersey federal court.
Ravelo, who joined Willkie in 2010 from the law firm Hunton & Williams, schemed with Feliz from 2008 to July 2014 to use two vendor companies to fraudulently obtain money from her employers and an unnamed client, prosecutors said.
Authorities said Ravelo, 49, and Feliz, 50, created the vendors, which purported to provide litigation support services to the law firms, and controlled their bank accounts.
The law firms paid more than $5 million for invoices the vendors submitted for purported litigation support services that in reality were not done, prosecutors said.
Many of the payments were approved by Ravelo, who along with Feliz used the money for personal expenses and investments, including $250,000 in payments to a jewelry store, prosecutors said.
Lawyers for Ravelo and Feliz did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
Ravelo, a Columbia Law School graduate, joined Hunton & Williams in 2005 from another law firm, Clifford Chance.
She had been involved in representing MasterCard Inc in a series of antitrust lawsuits, including a class action against it and Visa Inc that resulted in a $7.2 billion settlement.
Both Willkie Farr and Hunton & Williams said they were cooperating with the investigation. Court papers indicate Ravelo left Willkie Farr on Nov. 14.
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